Volume 22, Issue 12

                                                                             December 2008      

                                                                                     

 

 

           

                                                                                   

 

      CHRISTMAS  PARTY       

                       

 

                                       THE NETWO ANNUAL CHRISTMAS PARTY

                             WILL BE A POTLUCK SUPPER ON THURSDAY,

                           DECEMBER 11TH  BEGINNING AT 5:00 P.M. AT                                                          JEAN PAMPLIN’S BANK BUILDING IN WINFIELD.

 

                                     EVERYONE WRITE A SHORT CHRISTMAS STORY

                           TO BE READ AFTER SUPPER AND COME PREPARED

                          FOR AN EVENING OF GREAT FOOD AND GOOD FUN.

 

                                              

                                     

                         Directions:

                                From I30, take the Winfield exit, turn north approximately ½ mile.

                                Cross a railroad track and immediately to your left you will see the

                         old bank building and the Winfield US Post Office.             

                                                                                                                                        

                       

                                                                                               

 

 

 

                        BITS AND PIECES

 

Ken Loveless, NETWO member in Austin, sends greetings.  He plans to see everyone at the Spring Conference.

 

Congratulations to member Pam Kumpe on the publication of her first book, See You in the Funny Papers—A Bit of Good News.

Pam, a correspondent and columnist for the Texarkana Gazette’s Bowie County Life, has filled  the book with some of her favorite columns and stories.  The book is available at www.pamkumpe.com for $14.99.

 

National Novel Writing Month:  Before the month was over, Georgia Henson reports she had made it to 25,000 words.  Quite an achievement, Georgia!

 

The following is a report by Bill Carl:

     “Janice Glass, Galand Nuchols, Bob (George) Allen and I shared a booth at the Mistletoe Fair.  It is put on annually by the Texarkana Junior League to raise money for the anti-domestic violence campaign.  We were only able to pay for a 10’x10’ booth, so it was crowded with the four of us.  We sold about $600 worth of books, which barely paid for the booth but if everyone who asked about NETWO and our Texarkana Writers Workshop comes to the meetings, it was worth it.  It was a giant learning experience and I recommend that we enter a larger booth next year so more of our published authors can participate.  Just a note: any merchandise displayed for sale must be first class, professional products.”

     “We nearly froze because the heat was not turned on often enough, some of the performance music was so loud we couldn’t talk to our customers, and the food in the merchants’ hospitality area was iffy.  People were cautious with their money this time, for obvious reasons but I believe things will be more stable next year.”

     “The four of us can tell you all about it at the meetings after Christmas.”

  

The East Texas Journal this month features a story by Janice Glass “The Bad Old Devil.” @

 

 

                   NEW MEMBER

 

        Maryann Miller, Winnsboro

 

 

 

             REMINDER

 

The 2009 Short Story Contest entries must be postmarked between January 1 and February 14, 2009.  Rules are posted on the website: www.netwo.org or in the November newsletter.
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


From the Introduction of Spunk & Bite by

Arthur Plotnik:

 

“With so many gifted authors already sniffing their way to publication, with so many diversions grabbing mass attention, no writer can afford a writing-as-usual attitude.  Language or style that is less engaging, less stimulating than the competition is, frankly, dead on arrival…Something distinctive, some umami-like deliciousness has to emanate from your words, or off they go to oblivion.”

 

“It is often easier to write things down than to say them out loud.  I joke that sometimes I don’t know what I think until I see what I write.”

                                    --- Linda Ellerbee

                                                                                                                            


NETWO WORD FUN

By Liz Sanders

 

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            The words below pertaining to writing are hidden in the block above.

 Some are hidden backward or diagonally.  See if you can find:                                                                                                             

 

 

ANTAGONIST

ANTHOLOGY

ARTICLE

AUTHOR

CHARACTER

COMEDY

DICTION

EDITOR

FICTION

FLASHBACK

GENRE

GRAMMAR

IMAGERY

IRONY

MARKET

MEMOIR

METAPHOR

MYSTERY

NONFICTION

POETRY

PROMOTION

PROOFREADER

PUBLISH

PUNCTUATION

REVISION

ROMANCE

SARCASM

SATIRE

WRITER

 

 

                                                                                                                                                     3

 

 

       MANUSCRIPT MAKEOVER

     Revision Techniques No Fiction

        Writer Can Afford to Ignore

 

              By Elizabeth Lyon

 

       Reviewed by Jackie Brown

            A NETWO Author

 

     Perhaps the best sentence for describing the latest of Elizabeth Lyon’s excellent books on how to sell one’s book, or write fiction and non-fiction, etc., is: “Manuscript

Makeover should be studied to obtain a Ph.D. in the arts of writing, rewriting, and captivating a completely defenseless reader, agent, editor, or contest judge.”  Or, “This is an eye-popping, inspirational book with the section on ‘Riff-Writing’ worth the cost of the book ($14.95) by itself, in its method of putting you inside your characters and expanding your vision by expounding on the characters’ problems and feelings.”

     In addition, this book explains everything one needs to know about partial and total makeovers of manuscripts, including style, techniques, genres, viewpoints, characterization, plot structure, time and pace, suspense, plus query letters and getting the book sold once finished.  Complete with interesting examples and quotations, of course.  Lyon turns writing and rewriting into a science.  No vague generalities clutter the road to success—she uses specifics.  I especially like the way she had check lists at the end of each chapter, giving a quick review of points covered and ways to implement the changes.

     She gives us suggestions on how to improve everything from style to suspense, ending scenes and chapters with cliff-hanging excitement, how often to change viewpoint characters (if at all),  how to create a clear scene goal, how to avoid overcoming obstacles too easily, and how to show consequences of actions.  In addition to the usual revision suggestions, Ms. Lyon kindly reminds us of things we’ve forgotten, if we ever knew them, such as : Comma Splices, Parallelism, Paragraph Flow, Passive Construction, Pronoun Reference, Subjective Tense, Subject-verb Agreement, and others.  You’ll learn to correct your grammar mistakes and strengthen your writing at the same time.

     Sections on Viewpoint and writing in the different tenses (past, present, and future) should be extremely helpful to those authors who didn’t pay a lot of attention back in school when English teachers persisted in discussing such boring, technical things.  There are words used in this volume that a new author may not have run up against yet, so it might be a bit intimidating to them.  I found some that puzzled me for a few moments until I read the description.  For instance, the word subtext seemed alien until I realized from her discussion of it that this was something I’d been aware of and used for years without giving it a title.  Other newer authors who don’t as yet have great technical knowledge of the craft of writing might get discouraged; however, her explanations are clear.  Just take your time with each chapter, experiment with it, and proceed once it’s digested.  A new writer can save much time by working his or her way through this book.

     For the old, tired writer, this book is a shot in the arm!  Everything you need in one book!  I suppose nothing will totally match years of study, effort, attendance at numerous writers’ workshops, and the help of a good critique group, but this book may be even better.  You and this manual will form a working partnership that can hardly fail.  Other participants become extraneous.

     This book is crammed with information, so I must leave some interesting parts uncovered.  Several items are especially helpful, however, such as her list of four options for sifting story time:  overlapping

present, immediate future, flashforward, and flashback.  Another useful list of common traps writers fall into:  “Too little at stake; Goal inconsequential; Too much at stake; Goal melodramatic, unrealistic; Too many problems, Goal unclear; Problem and protagonist unmatched; and Problem and situation too familiar or clichéd.”

     There are many excellent quotations from wonderful authors used to illustrate different methods that can be used to handle problems in the plot.  There are also a number of helpful “Don’ts” that she lists, such as Don’t leave subplots hanging; Don’t give a predictable climax; Don’t omit the climax, or tamp down the dramatic intensity, etc.  She also reminds us that what most readers remember best about a book or story, is the main character, or characters.  They must be memorable and complete.  How else can you love or hate them?

     The section on query letters is classic and scientific.  The whole last section on Query Letters and Synopses, and polishing your manuscript for Marketing, is all important to the hungry, polished writers.  It’s very detailed and helpful.  And the section on how your agent or editor expect your manuscript to be typed these days, complete to spaces, commas, and which type they prefer you to use (I like Courier), is quite important.  Ms. Lyon says that many agents flat out say they don’t like prologues (see P. 109.)  A valuable tip!

     In her final “thank yous” I was excited to learn that Elizabeth Lyon’s agent is one many of us met when she was the guest Agent at one of our spring conferences several years ago—Meredith Bernstein.  No wonder it’s a great book.  The one book every serious writer must own.

 

                         ******

 

     Manuscript Makeover is a Perigee Book, published by the Penguin Group.  If not available at your favorite bookstore, contact the author at elyon123@comcast.net, or her websites: www.elizabethlyon.com or www.4-edit.com.  She has a freelance editing company, Editing International, and has been an independent book editor for two decades.

     Elizabeth Lyon lives in Springfield, Oregon, with her beloved Border collie, Riley, and her spoiled black and gray tabby cat, Hunter.  She also presents custom-made workshops for groups of writers.   t

 

                        MARKETS

 

Deadline for the following is January 15, 2009 so the information is really provided if you want to make entering next year your goal.  It is an annual competition.

 

BkMk Press

Ciardi/Chandra Prizes

Two prizes of $1,000 each and publication by BkMk Press are given annually for a poetry  and a short fiction collection.  Submit 50 to 110 pages of poetry or 150 to 300 pages of short fiction with a $25entry fee by January 15, 2009.  Send an SASE, call, e-mail or visit the Web site for complete guidelines.

BkMk Press, Ciardi/Chandra Prizes,

5100 Rockhill Road, University of Missouri, Kansas City, MO  64110-2499 (816)235-2558.  Ben Furnish, Managing Editor, bkmk@umkc.edu

www.umkc.edu/bkmk

 

So many of these contests seem to have end of the year deadlines an effort will be made to let you know about annual ones.    t

 

 

       MERRY CHRISTMAS!

                                                                   5

 

 

 

 

 

 

          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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